Undoubtedly, one of the best parts of running Vida Vegan is getting to support fantastic animal sanctuaries. We do that by donating a portion of our Vida Vegan Con registration and by hosting a silent auction/party/excuse to get a little fancy: the Galarama.

We’ve got sooo much to put together yet for this event (nibblies, music, cocktail/mocktail menu, exactly what kind of photo booth), but we wanted to give you a heads-up so you can start making plans. This event will be open to the public, so we’ll have admissions info up soon—of course, all full-access registrants get in free!

What do we know so far?

The location:Staver Locomotive, in NW Portland. This insanely cool building has model train tracks running through it, little rooms tucked here and there, and a super pretty outside area (with more train tracks). We instantly fell in love and can’t wait to fill it up with all of you. Bonus points for being walking distance from the NW 23rd/Nob Hill neighborhood and the same Portland Streetcar line as the Art Museum.

The date: Saturday, May 25, 2013, 7:00 – 9:30 pm. Conference-goers will have time to get to their hotels, grab a snack, get gussied up (or not!), meet up with their date (again, or not!), and get over to Staver.

The beneficiary: Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. This is a sanctuary in Cle Elum, Washington, founded to provide a safe forever home to chimpanzees exploited and discarded by the biomedical and entertainment industries. Read about them and the chimps here. (They have a fantastic blog.)

The sponsor: Our 2013 VVC Gold Sponsor, So Delicious, is helping us foot the bill for this event—and putting together something that can only be considered an Ice Cream Spectacular. (More to come on that.) We can’t thank them enough; the less money we spend on this shindig, the more we can give to the chimps!

Want to help? If you or someone you know has an item or service to donate to the auction, find more information here. And thank you!